Saiman Shetty

Don't Stop at the Basics: Deeper Questions for Product Success. On my last post, we discussed how critical questions can prevent product failure, using Mr. Ojo's Josic as an example. While initial market research and product validation are crucial, there's more to this story. As a startup founder or product manager, you need to dig deeper into the heart of your audience and product to achieve success. Let's consider the following before launch: 1. Product-Market Fit: Now don't get all emotional about this. I know you are happy about this new idea but does your product ACTUALLY solve a problem for your target market in a way that existing solutions don't? Think about this🤔 Your audience don't care about your emotions if it doesn't solve their pain points.🤷 2. Competitive Advantage: - What makes your product unique? - What's your unique value proposition? - Can you sustain that edge long-term? 3. Go-to-Market Strategy: - How will you reach your target audience effectively? - Where do your target audience hang out? - What channels will drive traction? 4. Pricing model: You are bringing a freelance site to the market and you peg a 20% commission for your freelancers…shuu😳 How do you intend to compete with Upwork and Fiverr? Or you peg 5%, how do you intend to sustain it over time and still make profit? 5. Development Roadmap: - What are the key features needed at launch? - What's the post-launch development plan? By tackling these questions early on, you can develop a more robust product strategy, identify potential roadblocks, and increase your chances of success. 💜 P.S.: Share your thoughts! What other critical questions do you ask during product development? Let's keep the conversation going in the comments. I am Chimdimma Nwachukwu, your detail-oriented product manager. Call me "The Writing Product Manager"😍 Click ony blue name 👆 to follow me for more insights on products. #startups #founders #productmanager #productstars #womeninproduct

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🚀 Unlocking the nuances of Product Market Fit (PMF) is key to building successful ventures. It's not just about creating value; it's about capturing it effectively. In the world of startups and innovation, the VC2 framework offers a lens to understand this dynamic interplay. At its core, PMF is about delivering a product that resonates deeply with customers while addressing a specific market need. But let's dive deeper. PMF extends beyond mere satisfaction, but also validate revenue models, ensuring your offering can be monetized successfully. Here's where the distinction between creating and capturing value becomes pivotal. To capture value, you must first create it. In the realm of macroeconomics, value creation translates to enhancing customer experiences in B2C scenarios or boosting profitability for B2B entities. Pricing models play a crucial role here, as they must strike a balance between delivering value and capturing it. Ultimately, the success of any product hinges on its ability to generate sustainable revenue. If a product or service fails to do so, its long-term viability comes into question. In essence, PMF isn't just about creating buzz; it's about building a solid foundation for sustainable growth. By understanding the intricate dance between value creation and capture, entrepreneurs can steer their ventures towards lasting success. Courtesy : Harvard Kennedy School and The Lean Product Playbook. #ProductMarketFit #BusinessStrategy #Entrepreneurship #VC2

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Thrilled to share that I have been shortlisted for the The VC Fellowship! This opportunity aligns perfectly with my passion for innovation and supporting visionary entrepreneurs. Excited to contribute to the startup ecosystem and learn from the best in venture capital. #VCFellowship #Entrepreneurship #Innovation #PassionForGrowth 🚀

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Hello Friends. Today, we launch Krut AI on Product Hunt. After all the hustle for the first time, you can sign up use Krut’s trial version and upgrade yourself. This is a massive milestone for us— and we could use your help. Please support, comment, share, etc. A bit about how we thought of building Krut: a year and a half ago, I noticed a challenge: E-commerce SMBs struggle with brand optimization due to disconnected AI image creation processes -- even as they invest deeply into sophisticated brand optimization. So we asked, “Why?” What we realized: today’s decision-makers aren’t well connected with the prompt writing in AI tools to make their decisions right for their brand-building exercise. AI Image Creation lives on prompting island in tools, software, & platforms. But the team learns, decides, & executes in traditional way(photoshoot, content writer, etc) Krut AI brings together AI Image Creation + Traditional Way. We have built an AI-first company to drive business growth, not just creating images that no one looks at. We’re built to eliminate the traditional way of doing photoshoots and content creation, paying thousands of dollars and more than a week for someone to write back to say “What am I looking at?” Because, you know, this is not what you expected. What we’re launching today represents small and medium businesses that had a bad impact with their e-commerce listing due to a lack of prompt writing skills. And Krut is far from perfect. We're putting the finishing touches on things and features that we’re excited to build. We’d love your feedback, good & bad. But, beyond that, we’d love to work with you. We are dedicated to working with some of the world's top and SMB e-commerce founders & operational teams as they use Krut AI to make better decisions, learn, & execute faster. Krut AI will transform businesses and we’re ready to accelerate things for you. I’m so proud of my team Raka RAKSHITH KUMAR KN and MitthunDa MITHUN MOHANDAS. And I’m so thankful to you, our community, for all the support along the way. ❤️ On PH: https://lnkd.in/gxBqevhZ And to try Krut AI yourself today: https://krut.ai/

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Build/learn in public type of post that I shared on LearningLoop.com: We want different networks on LL to have their own membership criteria so that you can only join one if you fit its criteria (e.g. to join LL for tech startup founders you must be a tech startup founder now, to join LL for first-time parents you must be a parent in the first 24 months of having a kid now, etc.). Why? To maximise relevance of every member to every other member. Why? The less relevance between members, the less members talk and the less engaged LL becomes. Why does it matter? Well, we're building a consumer app. We have to design for scale & engagement. Example: If we put someone who just became a parent (their first child) in a group with other first-time parents who also just had their first children, for many months to come they'll have things to discuss on LL, whether emotional stuff or questions that they have. Once their kids are older than 2-3 year old, the parents will probably not wanna talk as frequently with parents who just became a parent. Human attention always moves to the next most important thing in one's life. Grouping parents of 1 year olds with parents of 10 year olds to have daily/weekly conversations will probably cause friction because the parents of 10 year olds may get impatient and perceive the younger parents as noobs or overthinkers. Maybe 1-10% of people are infinitely patient and but the majority aren't. (I'm personally not and if someone asks me daily about something that i mastered few years ago, I get really annoyed and super avoidant, and I've seen this pattern as one goes up the competence hierarchy in any domain). There's a reason for classes and levels and progression at school. You get matched with people at your level (by some definition). Since we're building a peer to peer learning app that you can use both as a social network and as a learning app, we need to build an environment in which every individual (the majority) can be absolutely selfish and optimise for their self-interest, but in doing so, they also happen to be helpful to others. Meaning, members are not on LearningLoop to teach others, but to grow themselves, but in doing so (and sharing their questions and learnings and feelings and thoughts) they also grow others. When members move on, they leave behind a lot of wisdom that new members can benefit from (assuming we do a good job of capturing that wisdom and making it available easily) Scaling curation is one of the 2 fundamental technical problem statements of our company and it's deeply rooted in what's best for the business

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Really pumped to share a new resource: My quick guide to product-led growth for pre-PMF startups --> Step 1: Don't do it. -- There's always a lot of hype around PLG. There are some exceptions, but here's why PLG is way cooler in theory than in practice for most early-stage B2B startups: 1 - When it doesn't work, it's really hard to know WHY it doesn't work. "How do we know if it's not working because the wrong kinds of people are coming in, we have the wrong message, we're targeting the wrong kind of person, our onboarding flow is bad, or one of 3,000 other variables?" Hint: the answer ain't in the data. It's in users' heads, and they don't want to talk to you. AKA: takes a ton of volume & money to learn anything, vs. just having a few sales calls. Your idea is always wrong in some way you can't know ex-ante -- the best way to debug it fast is to try to sell. 2 - PLG is often an excuse to avoid selling. I get it, selling "doesn't scale as efficiently." You don't want to be sales-led. You can make a TON of logical arguments against selling, but most of the time we're ACTUALLY trying to do PLG because deep down, we don't like how uncomfortable selling can feel. Even if you want to do PLG eventually, it's still worth selling in the early stage to figure out what buyers really want, in THEIR words... and this only emerges when you ask them to pay for stuff. (Sales, not "discovery" interviews.) 3 - PLG is a motion that makes sense for a very particular kind of product & buyer. And that's probably not you. Is your value prop most salient for directors or VPs? Cool, PLG's probably not for you. Does it require change management to get value out of it? Great, go sell & deliver. Your horizontal AI workflow tool? Yeah no. When it works, PLG is generally: 1) a surprise to the founders (see the stories of Loom, Segment, etc.) 2) a very narrow tool where the individual contributor is both the user and buyer Of course there are exceptions. But there's a very big, very full graveyard of non-exceptions. - PS - nothing against free trials, ungating the product, etc. I actually might be launching a PLG company. But PLG will unfold as the GTM approach if it is the right thing for the shape of the market & product opportunity, and I'm only figuring that out through 1:1 sales. PPS - I have a BIG problem with influencers shouting that the "new way to build a startup" is PLG or bust. It's hard enough to start a company when you're not getting steered into the iceberg.

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This hard reset is required for all AI founders from India building global B2B products: Product Innovation > GTM muscle Product innovation is happening at a rapid pace in each of your categories, valley competitors are building thought through features that can help them win customers mid-long term, GTM muscle alone without product differentiation wont help you win in the first half of this AI decade. We are doing this hard reset within BoldCap on what we are looking for in AI founders. Ping us if you are tinkering in global AI B2B products. Shiv Tayal Pratham Chadha Aditi Gera

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I came across this video of Michael Seibel of YC, and his insights are invaluable for pre-launch startups. Here are 4 focus areas for pre-launch startups he highlighted: 🛠️ 1. Launch quickly an MVP: "Launch something bad quickly." - Michael Seibel You won't have customers until you launch. Get feedback and iterate. With my 8+ years of experience in building scalable software products and applications, I can help you launch your MVP quickly and effectively. Schedule a Free Product Development Consultation today: https://lnkd.in/dp8RVvx8. Let's bring your vision to life! 2. Get anyone to use your product: You need users to survive. Focus on getting anyone to interact and see value in your product. 3. Talk to your users and get feedback: Align your vision with your customers' needs. Ship fast → get feedback → iterate fast "Hold the problem tightly, hold the customer tightly, hold the solution loosely." - Michael Seibel 4. Iterate (≠ pivot): Don’t fall in love with your solution. If it doesn't work, keep the problem and user, but fix the solution. "The user was a mechanic, if your screwdriver doesn't help him. Keep the mechanic, keep the problem, but fix the screwdriver." - Michael Seibel 🚀 Ready to turn your idea into an MVP? Schedule a Free Product Development Consultation today: https://lnkd.in/dp8RVvx8. Let's bring your vision to life! 🚀 #MVPDevelopment #StartupAdvice #ProductDevelopment #ConsultingServices #Innovation #startup #MVP #softwaredevelopment

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Almost all early-stage founders make this mistake. While much is made of investors scrutinizing founders, smart founders should be equally focused. Focused on what? On ensuring the fit is right before partnering with any investor, especially in the early stages when the relationship is so crucial. .. Myth 1: "It's a One-Sided Power Dynamic" While investors do hold leverage, strong founders recognize they're being courted too. Asking insightful questions about the potential investor's track record, value proposition, and alignment with your long-term goals is a sign of strength, not desperation. .. Myth 2: "My Passion Will Win Them Over" Passion is vital, but investors are looking for data-backed reasons to believe in your business model. Be prepared to defend your market size analysis, go-to-market strategy, and financial projections with evidence, not just enthusiasm. .. Myth 3: "They Just Look at the Big Picture" Experienced investors know the devil is in the details. Expect deep dives into your cap table, any existing investor agreements, IP ownership clarity, and other elements that signal potential red flags down the road as the company grows. .. Flipping the Script: Questions Founders Should Ask: 1> Track Record: Look beyond overall fund performance (which may mask a few huge wins amidst many duds). Ask about their involvement at the board level, and seek honest references from OTHER founders they've backed, both the successes and the failures 2> The 'Value-Add': Is this a 'blank check' investor, or do they bring industry connections, operational support, or other resources beyond funding? Get specific about what help you can realistically expect in the trenches 3> Alignment: Ask about their investment thesis for the next few years. Are they likely to push for a quick exit out of sync with your vision of building a sustainable long-term enterprise? .. Due diligence protects both sides from getting into a mismatch. Taking money isn't always the right move! A well-structured 'no' beats signing a deal that hamstrings your growth. And every early-stage founder must remember that! .. As founders ourselves, Anuradha and I are always on the look for founders with whom we find a fit. If you would like to get in touch, do share what you are building. Write to us at deals@dexter[dot]ventures keeping me in CC at devendra.agrawal@dextercapital[dot]in Best, Devendra Tags: Dexter Capital Advisors | Dexter Ventures

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Product Development (PD) firms and startups trying to work together.. Why is it that they have a "fit" problem? Here's my take: From the #startups perspective Pros of working with PD firms: > plug-in force multiplier team for engineering, > can take on side projects that the team doesn't have to dilute energy on, > leverage niche skill-sets > manufacturing/supply chain network. Cons of working with PD firms: > can be pretty expensive and slow(er), > they may not be able to fully understand what you need (often due to poor requirements) so the exploratory phase could be lengthy, > sometimes they will overcommit themselves and not be able to deliver within budget or time, > may result in a sub-optimal product due to communication barrier of not being on the same team/space. FLIPPED to the #productdevelopment firms perspective Pros of working with startups: > have a massive impact on startup mission, > usually projects are more interesting and involved, > genuine care for results and direct utilization, > niche expertise development opportunity Cons of working with startups: > due to the nature of innovation, requirements may not exist, > thus; difficulty in scoping and planning, > difficulty on vision alignment resulting in unhappy startup customer, > barrier of communication & progress due to constant re-prioritization > lack of understanding of change order cost/scope creep I am absolutely not saying that PD firms can't work together, I think they can and it would be a mutually beneficial relationship but for this to happen there needs to be a set of ground rules, understanding and empathy. Did I miss anything? What are your thoughts on this gap between startups and PD firms? --- Hi I'm Sera, resident hardware innovation and operations enthusiast! Here to make #hardware more accessible and successful through starting these conversations, creating community with Boston Hardware Meetup and my podcast The Builder Circle by Pratik.

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Why did Notion and Figma move from Product-Led to Product-Led with sales assist for their current GTM? To accelerate sales conversions 🚀 Lenny Rachitsky shares a great list of 28 B2B SaaS startups. 14 have already transitioned from PL to PL with Sales Assist. GitHub Shopify Datadog Figma Notion PagerDuty Plaid Slack Stripe Twilio Coda Retool Airtable Dropbox Why? ✅ To target large accounts and cater to the unique needs of high-value clients, offering tailored solutions and dedicated support. ✅ Support conversions with sales teams engaging with leads, understand their pain points, and guide them through the process. ✅ Custom solutions for large organizations with complex workflows, integrations, and requirements. ✅ Expansion and retention with customers as they grow and evolve and identify opportunities for upselling and cross-selling. For example... Notion's account managers offer personalized support, custom templates, and integrations to tailor the platform to each team's specific needs and workflows. Figma's enterprise specialists help organizations scale their design systems, assist with workflow integrations, and configure enterprise-grade security features and permissions. What's your GTM strategy? Comment below 👇 1️⃣ if you're still PL only 2️⃣ if you're switching from PL to PL with Sales Assist. I've helped over 300+ founders seize opportunities. Click 'Follow' for powerful marketing and pitching advice 🚀 #Startups #Sales #Strategy #Business #Growth #Success 

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I couldn't agree more with the insights from Lenny Rachitsky's recent interview with Bangaly KABA, PhD (YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Instacart) on career advancement. To succeed and make a real impact, remember that impact = skills x environment. Environment is everything that enables you to do great work that is outside of your direct control, including: manager, resources, team, scope, compensation, and culture. Skills, on the other hand, are things that are within your direct control that enable your success: communication (the most impactful), influence/leadership, strategic thinking, and execution. In my experience, focusing on both your skills and the environment you operate in is key to advancing your career. Just like a conductor leads an orchestra, your skills are the notes you play, but the environment is the concert hall and the audience that amplifies your impact. So thank you, Lenny and Bangaly, for articulating this so well. Your insights certainly resonate with my career journey so far. Full interview here 👉 https://lnkd.in/dMehh2iQ #CareerSuccess #ProfessionalGrowth #ImpactfulWork #Skills

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Solo VC: The rising trend in the VC & the Startup World. Part - 3 The Link to Part 2: https://lnkd.in/g8bKq2aC Let us look at a few more Solo VCs based out of the US: 1) Coelius Capital: Founded by Zach Coelius, Coelius Capital is a San Francisco-based VC firm with some noteworthy investments like Cruise, Mercury, Clubhouse, Loom.Ai, Entrupy, & others. 2) Array Ventures: Array Ventures is a San Francisco-based VC firm founded & managed by technologist & investor, Shruti Gandhi. Some of their notable bets include Blumira, Xwing, Zendar, Blendid, & others. 3) Adjacent Capital: Adjacent Capital is a New York-based VC firm founded by Nico Wittenborn. Some of their distinguished investments include Revolut, Blinkist, Niantic, OpenSea, Animl.ai, & others. 4) The Council: The Council is a San Francisco-based VC firm founded & managed by Amber Illig, making investments in domains like fintech, healthcare, & Vertical SAAS. 5) Cake Ventures: Cake Ventures is a San Francisco-based VC firm founded & managed by Monique Woodard. Some of their notable bets include Rares, Eli Health, Bright, Guaranteed, & others. 6) The Fintech Fund 🚀: Founded by Nik Milanović, The Fintech Fund primarily invests in Fintech startups. Some of their investments include Stitch, Syro, Simpl, Vault, Walnut, District, Flychain, Radar, & others. 7) DO Venture Partners: Founded & managed by Duygu OKTEM CLARK, Do Venture Partners primarily invests in blockchain, sustainability & AI. Some noteworthy investments include Myro, Kernal Biologics, Facet.ai, AngelList, & others. #VC #VentureCapital #investment #startup

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What keeps founders awake at night? 1) Urgency to get the task done. 2) Urgency to talk “the team” about burning problem. 3) Urgency to create/launch new version. 4) Urgency to close a deal. 5) Urgency to find PMF. Urgency is key to be successful Leader. But if your team feels the same urgency about their work then it’s sign that your company will be successful in long run. “URGENCY” should be DNA of early-stage startup.

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14 months sustaining 20k+ users on our MVP site and the beta version of CalyptusV2 is almost ready 🫣 Thank you to our awesome community for staying with us and for truly moulding the future of our platform 💚 What's new? - Custom-built hiring platform - AI for improved candidate onboarding - Wallet integration for on-chain user ownership - Machine-learning used to improve candidate matching - ATS Integrations to improve employer job synchronisation A tech hiring platform that we believe is worthy of top tech professionals 🫶 #CalyptusV2

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40 questions for pre-PMF founders

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🚀 Are you a product manager looking to supercharge your NLP models? Let's talk about using prompt engineering to take your models to the next level! 📈 🔍 Prompt engineering is a game-changer when it comes to enhancing NLP model performance. Here are some tips and best practices for product managers to leverage prompt engineering effectively: 🔹 **Understand Your Data**: Before diving into prompt engineering, ensure you have a clear understanding of your dataset. Analyze the data to identify patterns and common themes that can inform your prompts. 🔹 **Craft Precise Prompts**: The key to success in prompt engineering lies in crafting precise and relevant prompts. Be specific in your instructions to guide the model towards accurate outputs. 🔹 **Experiment with Variations**: Don't be afraid to experiment with different prompt variations to see what yields the best results. Test out different phrasings and structures to optimize model understanding. 🔹 **Iterate and Refine**: Continuous iteration is essential in prompt engineering. Refine your prompts based on model performance and user feedback to drive continuous improvement. 🔹 **Consider Context**: Take into account the context in which your NLP model will be used. Tailoring prompts to fit the specific use case can lead to more accurate and relevant outputs. 🔹 **Collaborate with Experts**: Work closely with NLP experts and data scientists to fine-tune your prompts. Their expertise can provide valuable insights and help you make informed decisions. 🔹 **Monitor and Measure**: Keep a close eye on model performance metrics and user feedback to monitor the impact of prompt engineering. Use this data to track progress and make data-driven decisions. 🔹 **Stay Agile**: Prompt engineering is an iterative process, so embrace agility in your approach. Stay flexible and be ready to adapt your prompts based on real-time insights and developments. 🚀 By leveraging prompt engineering techniques effectively, product managers can significantly enhance NLP model performance and deliver more accurate and impactful results. Ready to elevate your models to new heights? Let's get prompt engineering! 💡 #ProductManagement #NLP #PromptEngineering #GenAI #TechExcellence

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